Plans to start school at six

Last year the city council removed some teachers from pre-schools toplug gaps in primary 1 classes. There are signs that nursery closuresare generally on the increase in Scotland.

An independent report by education experts, covering a raft of proposalsaimed at improving pupil outcomes, said that 'an additional year in apre-five setting would be beneficial for many pupils'. But it added,'The Education Commission concluded that this should be a long-term goalin the city, but only when universal early years education is availablefor all three- to six-year-olds.'

Margaret Dobie, head of pre-fives and childcare in Glasgow, said raisingthe school starting age had been considered because there is 'a feelingsome children, particularly boys, are too young to start school at five.But there are budgetary implications because of the need for higherstaff-to-pupil ratios'.

The city council is currently piloting a continuation of the pre-fivescurriculum for children in some primary 1 classes until they are readyto move on to the five-to-14 curriculum.

Moira Small, a former early years teacher and member of Early Education,warned that two maintained nursery schools in Edinburgh were threatenedwith closure because the city council had set the council tax toolow.

Paula Evans, policy and parliamentary officer for the charity Childrenin Scotland, said, 'Broadly we are in agreement with the idea of a laterstarting age, but that does depend on the quality of early yearsprovision. It has to be of high quality and properly funded, otherwiseit is just a holding space for children before school starts.'

She said that current transition arrangements between pre-school and P1were 'patchy'.

Patricia Bradley, who runs the Bishopbriggs childcare centre in Glasgow,said the proposal would require proper funding, as there would need tobe higher staff-to-pupil ratios than in schools.

While willing to provide the additional year and make it relevant to achild's needs, she said that her nursery already had 'sturdy liaison'with teachers from primary schools to ensure a smooth transition toschool.

Early years consultant Margaret Edgington said the idea being floated byGlasgow mirrored practice in the rest of Europe and suggested anappropriate way forward in England, where 'what we are doing is pushingchildren so hard and setting them up for failure'. She added, 'If wecould implement a really good-quality Foundation Stage to the age ofsix, then it would take all this focus off literacy and place emphasison the really important issues of children's personal, social andemotional development and their speaking and listening skills.'